This invention relates to storage and management of information and, more particularly, to a fuzzy set-based architecture and data model for information management.
Information is ubiquitous. A dramatic increase in the use of distributed networks, such as the Internet, has made information available in an unparalleled manner for both sophisticated and unsophisticated users. The ability to cheaply store data as well as the increase in processing capability allows data to be exchanged and replicated in ways that were previously unimaginable.
Further, the information is available in various forms. Where once text-based data was the norm, information data items now may be available as images, computer-aided design (CAD) presentations, video clips, and applets, to name a few examples. Such data is intermixed with spreadsheets, hyper-text markup language (HTML) files, and word processing files.
However, accessing the relevant information can be a frustrating experience. A business, for example, may have information scattered all over the enterprise. The information may include Word(trademark) documents, Excel(trademark) spreadsheets, video files, PowerPoint(trademark) presentations, and so on. Often, a hierarchical structure is established for storing the information, but the relationship between the data items is not effectively catalogued. Further, incompatibility between file formats often frustrates information access.
On the Internet, information access is often sought using a search engine. Examples of search engines currently available on the Internet include xe2x80x9cYahoo!,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cGoogle,xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cAlta Vista.xe2x80x9d The search engines may use keywords or other indicia with which to search for relevant items. Unfortunately, such searches are prone to being simultaneously under-selective and over-selective, forcing the user to sift through many unrelated documents, before retrieving the desired items.
Whether on a local network or a wide-area network such as the Internet, information is most commonly maintained in a flat file structure. The files are often xe2x80x9crelatedxe2x80x9d in a tree hierarchy, but the relationships provide very limited information on context of the files. The most sophisticated search engines are powerless to provide truly meaningful results when confronting such poor organization of information.
The completeness and relevancy of the information sought may be as valuable as the speed of accessing and retrieving the information. Unless the information presented is focused, relevant, useful, and intelligently organized, the value of the search engine, as well as the overall system, is diminished.
Thus, there is a continuing need for an intelligent, adaptive method of organizing and retrieving information.
In accordance with the embodiments described herein, a method comprises encapsulating information in an object, wherein the object is in a network of objects, establishing a degree of relationship to another object, relating the object to the other object in the network, and accessing any object in the network.
Other features and embodiments will become apparent from the following description, from the drawings, and from the claims.